Moistening device for fabric articles



May 7, 1957 c. G. MERINO 2,790,983

MOISTENING DEVICE FOR FABRIC ARTICLES Filed Dec. 2, 1952 88 i Bf KIH l UUTHIIIHI INVENTOR CAuxTo G. MERINO ATTORNEY United States Patent O MOISTENIN G DEVICE FOR FABRIC ARTICLES Calixto G. Merino, Hilo, Territory of Hawaii Application December 2, 1952, Serial No. 323,668

1 Claim. (Cl. 15-138) This invention relates to a moistening device for fabric articles, and more particularly, has reference to a device of the character described that is particularly adapted to moisten clothes for ironing.

Most usually, it is the practice of one ironing clothes to sprinkle water thereover, prior to ironing of the clothes. Or, in other instances, it is common to hold a wet towel or the like and rub it over the surface of the cloth, thus wetting the hands.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a clothes moistening device which will permit one to moisten fabric articles such as clothes uniformly and easily, and without wetting the hands, the device constituting the present invention thus having certain advantages ovcr the conventional means described above, since sprinkling water over the clothes does not result in uniform moistening thereof, unless the water is sprinkled upon the clothes a substantial amount of time before the clothes are ironed. The practice of rubbing a wet towel over the cloth, while causing the articles to be moistened more uniformly than it is when sprinkled, is undesirable by reason of its being time consuming, and involving wetting of the hands.

Another object of importance is to provide a clothes moistening device which will include a base adapted to be gripped and shifted over the article to be moistened, said base supporting a depending, Water-absorbent body such as a sponge and being provided with a water container and a depressible valve for causing water to flow from said container to the sponge. It is proposed, by forming a clothes moistening device in this manner, to provide a moistening means that can be easily moved over the cloth, will wet the cloth uniformly, will comprise a self-contained unit that will save time and effort, and will permit one to readily determine the dampness of the absorbent body.

Another important object is to provide, ina clothes moistening device, a fabric covering for the absorbent body that will be so arranged as to distribute the flow of water evenly through the body and to preserve the body from wear, said cover being readily removed and a new one substituted therefor whenever desired.

Another object of importance is to provide a supporting base which will protectively enclose the water-absorbent body, and will snugly engage the body in such a manner as to cause the water to be forced uniformly through the garment-contacting face of the absorbent body whenever a slight downward pressure is exerted thereupon.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claim appended thereto, and from the annexed drawings, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure l is a longitudinal view showing the modified clothes moistening device of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the device shown in Figure 1, the absorbent body being removed;

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Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view on line 33 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view on line 4--4 of Figure 1, showing a depressible plunger used as a valve opening means in the clothes moistener illustrated in Figure 1.

In Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, a form of clothes moistening device according to the present invention is illustrated, which is particularly designed to permit use of the moistener for a long period of time, without necessity of refilling the water container.

Referring to Figures 14, the moistener base has been designated generally at 60 and is substantially identical, in respect to its outer configuration, to the moistener base 10. Thus, the moistener base 60 can be of molded plastic formation, having a depending marginal flange. The base 60, however, is also molded integrally with an upstanding, continuous, peripheral flange 62 receiving the lower end of a water container 64. The water container 64 is of rectangular, box-like shape, and is substantially coextensive in area with the area of the moistener base 60, thus to cause the container 64 to hold a substantial quantity of water during use of the device. That portion of the container 64 engaged by the flange 62 is cemented or otherwise sealably and permanently connected to said flange 62.

To permit the container 64- to be readily filled, a flanged filler opening is formed in the top wall thereof, receiving a stopper 66.

Formed in the moistener base 60 is a water discharge opening Ill analogous to the opening 26 in the first form of the invention. The discharge of water through the opening 74), in this connection, is controlled by a valve means including a valve block 30, leaf spring 32, and spring anchoring element 34 identical to that used in the first form of the invention, the valve block 30 being protectively enclosed by the shield 22 previously described herein.

In view of the fact that the water container 64 covers the full area of the moistener base, however, a plunger means is used in the form of the invention shown in Figure 1, that extends directly through the container 64. Accordingly, the top wall of the container 64 has an apertured boss 76, aligned vertically with a correspondingly apertured boss 78 formed integrally upon the moistener base 60. The bosses 76, 78 receive the opposite ends of a plastic guide tube 80, which is permanently secured within said bosses.

Reciprocable within the guide tube 80 is a depressible plunger 82, said plunger being headed at its opposite ends as best shown in Figure l. The opposite ends of the plunger, it may be noted, project above the container 64 and below the moistener base 60, respectively, the downwardly projecting end of the plunger engaging the spring 32 intermediate opposite ends of said spring.

It will be readily perceived that the upper end of the plunger 82 can be depressed by a user, and that when the plunger is so depressed, the valve block 3il will be shifted away from the opening 70, thus to permit water to flow through said opening to the absorbent body 42.

In the invention shown in Figures 1-4, a spacer member 84 is of channeled formation, having a flat web against which the top face of the absorbent body 42 is disposed, the web of the spacer member being flanged upwardly along the opposite side edges thereof. The web of the spacer member has a large center opening 86 (Figures 1 and 2), through which water released from the container 64 can flow.

It is also preferred that the web of the spacer member 84 have other openings 88 which can be arranged as shown in Figure 2, at the several corners of the spacer member. The openings 88 serve to assure the uniform said :water be released from the container 64 in such quantity as to flow over the web of the spacer member.

The invention as shown in Figures l-4 has a waterabsorbentbody 42 which is encased by a fabric cover 44 and is supported upon the depending flange of the moistener base by means of rods 48 extending through plastic tubes 46.

I believe that in a commercial embodiment of the invention, the spacer member might be removed, in which event the sponge body itself would be recessed to accommodate the protective shield 22 and the valve block 30, said sponge body pressing directly against the undersideuof the moistener base 60.-

Further, in some forms of the invention the tubes 46 might be eliminated, with the support rods being embedded directly in the material of which the absorbent body is formed. These'changes, I believe, are sufiieiently obvious as not to requirespecial illustration herein.

It will be appreciated that the removability of the sponge-like body permits said body to be quickly dried, whennot in use, since it can be removed with facility and squeezed dry.

Further, it is important to note that in use of the device, the side and top faces of the sponge-like body will be engaged snugly against the depending marginal flange of the moistener base, and against the web of the spacer member, respectively. By reason of this arrangement, it is possible to exert a slight downward pressure against the entire moistening device, while the same is being shifted across an article to be moistened. The exertion of such pressure is effective to cause water to be squeezed out of the edges of the clothes-contacting surface of the sponge body, thereby to facilitate the moistening operation. Of course, it is not essential that the water be squeezed out of the sponge body 42 by the exertion of downward pressure thereagainst, in every instance, and if the body is saturated, the entire device can be moved over the article to be dampened in such a manner as to cause the weight of the device to constitute the instrumentality whereby the water will be forced from ,the body 42 against the article that is to be moistened.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confinedto the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claim.

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What is claimed is:

In a dampener for articles to be ironed, a flat base having a continuously extending, depending, peripheral flange; a water container supported upon the base, said base having a dispensing opening communicating with the interior of said container topermit gravitational flow of water through the opening; a rectangular valve shield closed at three sides thereof and having its fourth side open, said shield depending from the base and extending about said opening; a spacer member comprising a flat plate disposed below the base and including means in its periphery engaging the underside of the base and spacing the plate from the base in a plane paralleling that of the base thereby forming a cavity between the base and plate extending over substantially the full area of the base, and the plate having a main opening and a plurality of auxiliary openings communicating with said cavity and the valve shield terminating at its lower end within the main openings substantially in the plane of the plate, said main opening of the plate having its edge spaced outwardly from the lower end edge of the shield; for guiding of the liquid through the valve shield directly from the first to the main openings with excess liquid flowing into the cavity through the open side of the valve shield for passage through the auxiliary openings, an elongated leaf spring anchored at one end to the underside of the base and extending within said cavity,.the other end of the spring extending into the shield through the open side thereof; a valve block secured to said other end of the spring in position to close the opening of the base, said spring being tensioned to seat the valve block against the underside of the base to normally close the base opening; means projecting upwardly from the spring through the base for depressing the spring to unseat the block; and an absorbent body secured to the base in contact with the underside of said plate, for flow of water through the main and auxiliary openings in the unseated valve position into said body, following passage of said water through the first named opening and valve shield.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 307,877 Stevens Nov. 11, 1884 395,121 Clernmons -a Dec. 25, 1888 583,526 Wiele June I, 1897 797,343 Caddell Aug. 15, 1905 1,135,616 Reller Apr. 13, 1915 1,217,054 Pearman Feb. 20, 1917 1,255,053 Satrum Jan. 29, 1918 2,601,689 Mallard July 1, 1952 

